NHL: Giroux has Team Canada in his sights

Philadelphia Flyers' Claude Giroux (28) smiles as he arrives to join the celebration of a goal by Jakub Voracek (93) in a win over the Phoenix Coyotes. Giroux's recent surge in play has him on the cusp of being named to the Canadian hockey team which will begin play in February at the Olympics in Sochi. (AP Photo)

VOORHEES, N.J. — Claude Giroux’s first night at home since he rung in Christmas didn’t go so snoozingly smooth. He admitted Monday that he’d had trouble sleeping the night before, which didn’t seem much out of the norm since Giroux and the Flyers had flown cross-country in the wee hours of Sunday after a 5-3 win in Phoenix.

There might have been a different reason if Giroux was going to have trouble getting a few winks again Monday night, since an announcement he’d been quietly, if anxiously awaiting was finally to come. On Tuesday, Team Canada was set to announce which of its NHL studs would represent the nation at the Olympics in Sochi. With a late rush over the past several weeks, Giroux has himself right where he belongs - in the mix to make a team that’s so important to Canadian players.

“Canadians take a lot of pride in hockey; it’s our first national sport and everybody that grows up in Canada and knows hockey wants to play hockey,” Giroux said after a Skate Zone stopover before the Flyers end a six-game, post-Christmas road trip with a game against the Devils, Tuesday at the Prudential Center. “If you have a chance to represent your country in your first sport. Maybe for Americans it would be baseball or football that would be No. 1. So I think it might mean a little bit more to Canadians.”

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A little bit more? When the league’s best goal scorer, Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos, literally broke a leg two months ago, most of the early talk about the injury was whether it would keep him off Team Canada. That the Lightning were leading the Atlantic Division at the time played like a sidebar story.

Stamkos is still hoping for an invite to play in what would be his first Olympics, and says he’s on track to return for the Lightning prior to the Olympic break in February. As for Giroux, this would also be his first Olympic go-round. Since 2010, when a Sidney Crosby overtime goal won gold for Canada over the Team USA, Giroux has moved to an elite level of forwards in the league.

His start to this season seemed to have put him on the outside looking in, though over the past couple of months, however, Giroux has climbed back to where he belongs.

“The main thing is just going to the Olympics and representing your country,” Giroux said. “The only way I can represent my country, obviously, is to play hockey. So if I have a chance to go and help Canada win some medals I think that’s the main focus.”

That would be Giroux’s 24-hour focus until the Tuesday announcement, anyway. Once past that, it’s back to guiding the Flyers on what in recent weeks has been an impressive northerly path. Entering a game with Edmonton at Wells Fargo Center Nov. 9, Giroux had no goals and seven assists, and the Flyers were all of 4-11.

Now, one game past the midpoint of the season, the Flyers have gone 17-6-4 over their last 27 games, going from one step above the league basement to second place in the Metropolitan Division. In that time Giroux has 12 goals and 19 assists.

“It’s always a dream for any kid to play for his country,” Giroux said. “I did the best I could. I think having a bad start personally and with the team, we’ve bounced back pretty hard and we’ve been playing pretty good. We’ve had a lot of road games lately and it’s good to be back on track.”

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One major factor of the scoring resurgence for both Giroux and top-line mate Jake Voracek was the move of Michael Raffl to the top line. The rookie forward suffered a concussion in a 2-1 loss Thursday night in Denver. But there is much optimism that Raffl will be ready to go against the Devils on Tuesday night.

“I was working hard again and I think I felt fine,” Raffl said after practice Monday. “There were no worries.”

Raffl said he hadn’t experienced a headache since Saturday. He was scheduled to see a team doctor later Monday in an effort to get cleared for the Devils game.

NOTES

Voracek was named to the Czech Olympic team, along with an old friend (literally) by the name of Jaromir Jagr. ... Also practicing was defenseman Erik Gustafsson, who has missed the past six games with a knee sprain. Gustafsson will like miss two more, but is hopeful of a return after that. “I felt pretty good,” he said after practice. “As practice went on I felt better and better as it warm up with the movement a little bit. I gave it more of a push ahead, but I still think it’s missing 10 to 15 percent.” ... Coach Craig Berube said Vinny Lecavalier played “his best game” since returning from a back injury in Saturday’s win in Phoenix. “He’s a results guy and I think he’s going to be putting the puck in the net,” Berube said. “With this injury he’s still coming back. ... He never got quite back to where he was and I think he’s still working to get there.”